The present application relates generally to an improved data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to mechanisms for providing sensor virtualization for abstracting physical sensors that provide data to applications by using cloud storage and retrieval mechanisms.
Many consumer electronics today comprise a variety of sensors for detecting various conditions and providing data to applications indicative of the sensed conditions. For example, electronic devices may be equipped with motion sensors, accelerometers, light sensors, radio frequency identifier (RFID) sensors, barometers, hygrometers, and the like.
Recently, there have been mechanisms devised for virtualizing these sensors so as to optimize the sensors for the particular applications with which they are utilized. For example, as described in Hirase et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0216827, published Aug. 27, 2009, these mechanisms address the problem that sensors are not always optimized for the existing application software that uses the sensor data and to address the problem of incorporating programming code for sensor control into the application software. The Hirase mechanism provides sensor manager that receives instructions from applications, judges whether sensor output meets the requirements of the received instruction and, if so, generates an interrupt to the application submitting the instruction. Thus, in Hirase, the received instructions themselves are the “virtual sensors” which essentially operate as a filter on the sensor output. Thus, with Hirase, sensor output that does not meet the requirements of the conditions of the received instruction is suppressed.